Take Me Away
Chapter Four
"Marisol! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" the boy sang out. I clung to my vine, praying it wouldn't snap. Hanging over a cliff was one of my few not-so-predictable ideas, and I'd used up all of the others. There were only seven minutes left in the game, I just had to hold on a little longer.
"Mari, where did you go?" he asked loudly, a mocking tone to his voice that warned me he was near. "At this rate I'll never find you." He was an excellent tracker, but I had an excellent plan.
"Oh, there you are," I heard him laugh. He peered out over the edge of the cliff and I jumped, biting back a scream. Dammit. He was a touch too early.
"Remember the rules, Cottontail. Finding me is the easy part. Catching me with no magic is the hard part," I bit out. I was about fifteen feet away from the edge of the cliff, hundreds of feet above the rushing water below.
"True, but how hard would it be to pull you up or climb on down?" he asked simply.
"I mean, you could try," I teased. He rolled his eyes, grabbing the vine and tugging roughly. I was jolted up a few inches and I yelped.
"God Cottontail, I know you like it rough but would it kill you to be gentle?" I snapped. He smirked, yanking me up another few inches.
"Maybe I would be gentler if you didn't try so hard to run away," he smirked. I scoffed, loosening my hold on my vine. It uncoiled from around my hand and I dropped down several inches way too quickly for comfort.
"Maybe if you had been genuinely gentle since the beginning I wouldn't have ever wanted to run away!" I shouted. I uncoiled more of the vine, falling farther. "But that's the thing about you, Cottontail! Nothing about you is genuine except for your desire to live forever. That's why I need to run. There is no love, just living forever in misery."
Two minutes were left. He yanked hard just as I let more of the vine go, and the jolt from the drop and the snap from the yank resulted in the vine tearing in two. A scream tore itself free from my lips as I fell and I waited for the collision with the water below to kill me.
At least I could be free then. He wouldn't win.
My scream was cut short when I slammed into a body, all of the air whoosing out of me. I fell just a bit farther before coming to a stop, feeling the body beneath mine. I opened my eyes to see the bluish-greenish-tinged-with-grey eyes of the one person I would die to escape. He gave me a victorious smirk, the smug energy radiating off of his very being.
"Well, I definitely caught you."
I woke up with a jolt, sitting up and looking around wildly. I was on the kitchen floor, chocolate milk in a puddle with shattered glass only a little way away from my head. The heck? I shook my head, getting up and grabbing some windex and the paper towels.
"Mari?" I heard Mary Margaret call groggily. She stepped into the kitchen and woke up pretty quickly when she spotted the mess. "What happened?"
"I, uh, wanted some more cinnamon hot chocolate but I thought I saw a bug and dropped it. No biggie, go back to bed," I dismissed. She watched my carefully, shaking her head and coming over to help me finish cleaning.
"It's two in the morning. Wanna watch a movie?" she asked softly. I sighed, going over to make myself a fresh mug of cinnamon hot chocolate. I didn't want to sit through a movie with my big sister psycho-analyzing me, but I didn't want to sleep either. Sleep meant dreaming and dreaming meant the boy who had actually caught me.
"Sure," I muttered. "You pick."
"Okay, make me some hot chocolate too?" she asked, disappearing into the living room.
"Sure," I called out. I went over to the fridge, grabbing the ingredients before setting to work.
By the time I walked in, holding two very hot mugs, the Disney movie-intro was just finishing with the flick of Tinkerbell's wand. "So tell me darling," I began as I passed Mary Margaret her mug, "which Disney film are we being graced with tonight?"
"Funny you should say darling," she said with a secretive smile. I felt myself light up as I settled in on the couch.
"Which one are we watching?" I asked excitedly.
"Return to Neverland."
"Yes!" I exclaimed, doing a mini fist pump and nearly spilling my drink. Oops.
"Remember, Hook is the one who took Mary Jane for bait and Wendy's all grown up."
"Peter must really have loved Wendy," I muttered. "Going back for her even after all those years - at least, he thought she was the bait anyway."
We sat through the movie making snarky side-comments and sarcastic remarks, Mary Margaret even teasing me for the crush I used to have on the very cute disney character ("Anyone voiced by Jesse McCartney is going to be cute, I tell you!"). When the movie was through, I looked over to see a sleeping sister and I smiled.
"Leave it to you to try to stay up with me and fall asleep," I whispered with a shake of my head. I got up and grabbed a blanket, tossing it over her before taking her mug and heading back to the kitchen. I washed the mugs and put everything away, feeling a breeze brush my bare shoulders. Note to self: It was far too late in the year to keep sleeping in a tank top and short-shorts.
I walked over to the open widow, taking note of how nice out it was tonight despite the cold. I could see all of the stars, sparkling like diamonds but in a way that was far more beautiful. I don't know how long I stood there for, but I felt my gaze wander from star to star, staying on the brightest one in the sky. Of every star I've ever seen, the one I gazed at now had always been the brightest. I could never lose it in the sky, and something about that was really comforting.
"Second star on the right and onward till morning," I whispered. "Man, what I wouldn't give to go to Neverland."
With a new peace of mind, I shut the window and took myself to bed.
I found myself on a beach, walking along the shoreline and looking around. It took me a second to register everything but eventually it clicked. I was back on the island. Or maybe I'd never left - after all, the boy had caught me.
"Mari?" I heard someone call. I turned, finding a boy around just a little older than Henry walking toward me. He approached carefully, a long stick in his left hand. At the end of it was a sharpened rock, making it much more than just some dumb stick. This boy was armed with a spear.
"Um, do I know you?" I asked slowly, taking small steps back.
"It's me ... One," he said equally slow.
"Um ... is One your name?" He matched every step I took, but the spear remained at his side.
"Dunno, are you the sea sprite?" His sarcasm was oh so refreshing. I was tempted to tell him I was sure as hell not some sea sprite, but arguing would be pointless. Besides, something about the words made my stomach roll – they sounded too familiar.
I rolled my eyes, deciding to go a different way. "Why am I here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing. Do you know how many times I had to tell Two you were never coming back?" he asked angrily. "You were oh so happy to leave, after all."
I swallowed hard, feeling a flicker of hope. "I got out?" I surged toward him and grabbed his shoulders. He tensed, but didn't make a move on me. "I won the game?"
"Is none of this familiar to you?" he asked dubiously. "You think you'd remember 'the best day of your life'." He began to walk away and I followed, wanting to know more.
"How did I get out?" My excitement began bubbling over. If I got out once I could get out again. One watched me warily, his mouth opening slightly as he thought over what to say next.
"I think I need to take you to Pan," One decided.
"Pan?" Who the hell was that? Then it hit me. "The boy! Oh hell no, I am not going near him. Where the hell – are we on Neverland?"
"No, we're in the Enchanted Forest," One scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Of course we're on Neverland. Did someone knock your brains out or something?"
"Oh my god! So this Pan is the Pan? As in Peter Pan?! The leader of the Lost Boys is the same creep who wouldn't let me leave?" I cried, thinking back to my red-headed Disney character. This wasn't right. Peter Pan couldn't be some creepy evil kidnapper-y dude. He was supposed to be all fun and games with a touch of mischief. And he wasn't a brownish-blonde dude, and he didn't have eyes like the boy's. Did Disney seriously get this all wrong or was my brain broken?
"Oi, watch who you're talking about," One snapped. I looked at him curiously, taking in his dark hair and grey eyes. He was a touch smaller than he should be.
"Is Two your twin?"
"Sheesh someone really did knock out your brain," he laughed. It was a sharp, cruel laugh laced with pain. "'Course he is. Otherwise we wouldn't be One and Two."
Gosh, did I kick this kid's puppy or something? What did I do to make him so angry?
I didn't know where I was following One to as we spoke until I felt the heat of a flame. Soon I saw a bonfire, boys dancing and shouting all over the place. One had brought me to the camp. Oh my god.
"She's back!" One shouted, catching the attention of everyone within earshot. Oh no. Several boys turned to look at me, various reactions appearing among them. Some looked furious, some looked confused, some had no expression at all, and one came charging toward me. I yelped as I was tackled to the ground, about to fight for my life until I realized the kid was hugging me.
"I told him you would come back," the boy said into my chest. I let out an awkward cough, poking him to try and get him away from my girl parts.
"Um, who are you?" I asked. The boy looked up, having the same face as One with the exception of a small scar beside his mouth. "Oh! Two, hi."
"You came back," Two grinned.
"Uh, yeah, I guess I did. How long have I been gone?" Two opened his mouth, ready to answer when he was interrupted.
"C'mon now Two, don't forget to share," an unfortunately familiar voice called. Everyone froze, except for Two who took a step to my side. I swallowed hard, watching as the tall and lean, brown haired, blue-green-grey-eyed boy stepped forward. He walked up to me with ease, but there was a gleam in his eyes that told me to take ten steps back.
"Peter Pan," I whispered. He nodded, a smirk lifting the right half of his mouth.
"Good to see you again, love. It's been a while."
"If only it could have been longer," I grumbled. My eyes widened and I took a step back, realizing what I had said. Peter Pan simply laughed, the cruel sound filling the space around us as the Lost Boys watched.
"I see you haven't changed in the twenty-eight years you've been gone," he bit out. I gaped at him.
"Um, if you haven't noticed, I'm seventeen. It's physically impossible for me to have been gone twenty-eight years," I pointed out.
He nodded. "Maybe so, but magic is a funny thing. Would you like to know something, my little sea sprite?" A shiver went down my spine at the name, my mind trying to put everything together.
"Sure," I muttered. "Knowledge is power, after all." His smirk only grew.
"You're dreaming," he said simply. I scoffed.
"No shit," I bit out. "Neverland is a fairy tale. Any other obvious information you've got for me?"
"Well, if you're visiting Neverland in a dream, it means you want to come back. Which means, I can send my shadow to go get you."
"Your what?" My voice cracked, a sudden dryness in my throat. That didn't sound good.
"I'll see you soon, my pet. But right now, it's time to wake up."